Wall and sub-floor water drain panel assembly for basement water-control

ABSTRACT

A drain panel assembly for the control of water leaking through a basement wall and/or entering a basement through the interface of a basement wall and a supporting footing. The assembly comprises a plastic drain panel having an upper panel section which extends vertically up from a lower skirt section. The upper panel section is positioned adjacent the basement wall and is closely-spaced therefrom by spacer means which are integral with the rear surface of the upper panel section to admit water running down the basement wall into the lower skirt section. The lower skirt section extends outwardly from the upper panel section and downwardly into contact with the supporting footing section to form a longitudinal water conduit which extends along the length of the footing and is open to the wall/footing interface to receive water therefrom. The water conduit enclosed by the skirt section is provided with a plurality of spaced openings along the footing for draining water therefrom outwardly over the footing into a drain tile.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to improvements in wall and sub-floorwater-control systems for receiving channeling, collecting and expellingground water from interior basement walls to beneath the floor of thebasement and over the footing of basement rooms or other subterraneanrooms having walls, wall-supporting footings and a floor. The problemscaused by the invasion of ground water into basements and otherstructures are numerous. Generally such water seeps into basements fromthe walls and perimeter of the floor at the floor-wall and wall-footingjoints, and/or through cracks, due to external hydrostatic pressures ofwater in the ground.

2. Brief Description of Related Developments

Wall and sub-floor water drain conduit systems are known in the patentliterature but most such systems present problems with respect tostrength, clog-resistance, drainage capacity in both lateral andlongitudinal directions over the footing, and other disadvantages whichhave limited their use in commercial installations.

Reference is made to U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,245,443; 4,745,716; 4,837,991;4,869,032; 4,879,851, 5,051,044 and 5,771,643 as examples of proposedL-shaped wall/footing water drain panels which are installed in positionat the junction of the footing and the inside foundation wall prior tothe pouring of the basement floor. Generally, these elongate panels arefabricated of relatively thin plastic which, depending upon design, canbecome crushed or distorted to some extent under the weight and pressureof the wet concrete composition poured thereagainst when the basementfloor is poured over uneven horizontal footing surfaces or over suchhorizontal surfaces having dried concrete deposits thereon, therebynarrowing or closing the water-escape channels between the panels andthe wall and/or the surface of the footing.

With L-shaped panels having an integral vertical wall-drain panelsection and a horizontal footing-drain panel section, unless the panelsections extend at a right angle relative to each other and the wall andfooting surfaces extend at the same angle relative to each other, andunless the footing surface is smooth and free of debris and driedconcrete deposits, the weight of a concrete basement floor poured overthe horizontal footing-drain panel section will distort the shape orflatness of the footing-drain panel section, and the distortion will beimparted to the vertical wall-drain panel section causing it to warpaway from the wall and present a poor appearance around the interiorperiphery of the wall of the room. The vertical wall-drain panel isintended to be uniformly-spaced from the wall surface by a smalldistance, such as about 0.4 inch, but panel distortion can result in anuneven spacing, between no space and a spacing or one or more inches.Also, in most such panels, such as in U.S. Pat. No. 4,745,716, water ischanneled in only one direction, down the wall and outwardly over thefooting to the drain, while blocking the flow of water longitudinallyalong the horizontal surface of the footing. This presents problems whenwater escape is blocked or minimized in the lateral direction for anyreason.

U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,245,433, 4,745,716 disclose nestable L-shapedwall/footing water drain panel embodiments which are embossed to providesubstantial structural contact between the poured basement floor and thesurfaces of both the foundation and the footing, and which permitrestricted water escape in both the lateral and longitudinal directionsthrough narrow conduits. The barrier panels of these patents are eithercut or bent to form an upper wall diverter panel section and a lowerfooting diverter panel section in which the narrow water-escape conduitsmust be aligned and non-crimped. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,245,443 there is noplanar or flat longitudinal upper conduit-free area to permit theconcrete floor to be poured smoothly thereagainst, nor is there anyplanar or linear longitudinal conduit-free area at the discharge edge ofthe horizontal panel section to prevent or block entry of the wetconcrete floor composition into the narrow water-escape conduits duringpouring, causing blockage.

The system of U.S. Pat. No. 4,869,032 requires weep holes drilledthrough the basement wall to admit water behind an embossed verticalpanel and requires that the top margin of the vertical panel be cut offto provide access to a gap behind the vertical panel for water seepingthrough and down the basement wall. More importantly, the system doesnot allow the flow and escape of water longitudinally along the uppersurface of the horizontal footing.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a novel panel strip drainage system to beinstalled at the wall footing interface around the periphery of abasement room prior to the pouring of a concrete floor thereagainst. Thepresent drainage strip is designed to permit the drainage of watervertically from basement wall cracks and horizontally from wall/footinginterfaces into the drain tile system or drain conduit system adjacentthe wall footing, to prevent the water from entering the basement room.

The present drainage strip comprises a vertical strip, such as onemolded or extruded from a durable water-resistant plastic moldingcomposition, having a smooth planar interior surface and having anopposed surface provided with stand-offs or spacers forming awater-drainage gap between the opposed surface of the drainage strip anda basement wall. The drainage strip also comprises a lower horizontaldrainage section comprising a portion of said vertical strip which iscontoured to extend away from the wall/footing interface and to contactthe surface of the footing to form a horizontal water drainage conduitsection forming a passage open to the wall/footing interface, and whichextends longitudinally along the horizontal footing, which is enclosedexcept at spaced portions thereof which are provided with openings whichpermit the escape of water from the horizontal passage, out over thesurface of the footing and vertically down into the drainage tile ordrain conduit or sub-slab aggregate. The spaced portions of thehorizontal water drainage conduit section which have drain openings areassociated with footing/floor spacer members which communicate with thespaced openings in the horizontal water-drainage conduit section andwith the outer edge of the footing to permit the escape of water fromthe horizontal conduit section outwardly over the footing and into thedrain tile or drain conduit. The footing/floor spacer members serve toprevent the wet concrete composition from contacting the surface of thefooting in water-flow areas extending from the spaced openings in thehorizontal water-drainage conduit and the opposed edges of the footingto prevent the sealing of the openings and the blocking of the waterescape from the horizontal water drainage conduit into the drain tilewhen the basement floor is being poured.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing aspects and other features of the present invention areexplained in the following description, taken in connection with theaccompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a basement wall and footing havingmounted at the interface thereof a water drainage panel section assemblyaccording to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective rear view of a water drainage panel sectionaccording to the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a side edge view of a cross-section of a water drainage panelsection assembly as in FIG. 1, in position adjacent the wall footinginterface of the basement room, illustrating the concrete basement floorpoured thereover;

FIG. 4 is a side edge view of a cross-section of a water drainage panelsection assembly as in FIG. 1 but illustrating the use of a shield stripwhich is a length cut from the vertical drain strip, and

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a drainage panel section assembly as inFIG. 4 also illustrating the use of a shield strip which is a length cutfrom the vertical drain strip.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT(s)

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2 of the drawings, the present wall andsub-floor water drain panel 10 is a strong, flexible, semi-rigid panelmolded from a suitable plastic composition, such as a polystyrene,polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride, nylon oracrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene polymer (ABS) in a flat shape so as tolay flat against a basement wall 11 and stand on the supporting concretefooting 12 at the wall/footing interface as illustrated by FIGS. 1 and3. The panel 10 has an upper, vertical wall-engaging section 13 and alower skirt section 14 which curves or projects outwardly from verticalto form a horizontal water drainage conduit portion 15 adjacent the wallfooting interface, which enables water which enters from the interfaceto be confined and to flow along the length of the footing 12. The drainpanel 10 is also provided with or molded with spaced stand-off ribs 16or spacer ribs which support the panel in spaced position against thesurface of the basement wall, leaving a vertical drain space 17therebetween to allow any water seepage to flow down the wall behind thepanel 10. The spacer ribs 16 are provided with holes or cut-outs 18 toenable the vertical water seepage down into the horizontal waterdrainage conduit portion 15, and the lower footing engaging skirtsection 14 of the panel 10 is provided with spaced holes or cut-outs 19which enable the water to escape from the horizontal water-drainageconduit portion 15 of the panel section 14 and flow outwardly over thefooting 12 and down into a drainage tile or gravel bed 20.

The number of holes or cut-outs 19 in the wall of the footing-engagingskirt section 14 of the present water drain panel 10 generally is small,for example one for each 8 to 12 feet of wall length. The holes orcut-outs 19 must be shielded against being sealed or blocked with wetconcrete when the concrete floor 21 is poured over the footing 12 andagainst the base of the wall 11 and is hardened. This is accomplished byapplying a narrow shield strip 22 over each area of the footing-engagingsection 14 of the panel 10 having a hole or cut out 19, before thebasement floor is poured. The narrow shield 22 must be one which isresistant to being crushed under the weight of the concrete, so as toprovide an open water drainage path or conduit beneath the floor 21 andover the footing 12, communicating between each hole 19 and the opposededge of the footing 12.

A preferred narrow shield strip 22 is illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 3 ofthe drawings.

The horizontal narrow shield strip 22 is a strong rigid plastic whichcarries a plurality of uniformly-spaced, linearly-arranged wells 23having walls which taper downwardly and inwardly to a seat or frustrum24. The wells 23 have wide inlet ends to permit the wet concretecomposition of the poured basement floor 21 to enter and fill the wells23 down to their floor or frustrum 24 to support the shield strip 22against the footing 12 and prevent collapse or narrowing of thewater-flow space 25 between the shield strip 22 and the upper surface ofthe footing 12. The marginal border at the top of the vertical panelsection 13 provides a barrier which prevents the wet concrete floorcomposition from flowing against the surface of the wall 11 and behindthe panel section 13, and provide a uniformly-spaced continuous inlet 17to permit water to flow down the surface of the wall 11, such as fromcracks, down into the horizontal water drain conduit portion 15 and outthrough water escape holes 19 into water flow spaces 25 between thewells 23 under the shield strip 22. The water-flow space 25 beneath theshield strips 22 over the footing communicates with the horizontaldrainage conduit section 15 to drain the volume of incoming flood waterwhich generally enters between the base of the wall 11 and thesupporting surface of the footing 12 or by gravity flow through hollowcement blocks, in the case of cement block walls. The water flows downhorizontally through the conduit section 15, out through escape holes 19and water flow spaces 25 and eventually flows over the edge of thefooting 12 down into an aggregate drain tile 20 such as a porous drainpipe embedded in a gravel field. Also, the water drain conduit portion15 is required to drain water which accumulates along the surface of thefooting, from the wall/footing interface, and flows longitudinally alongthe length of the footing 12, as well as water which flows down the wallthrough water flow space 17.

The narrow shield strips, one for each opening 19 in the lower skirtsection 14 of the panel 10, preferably have a marginal border 26, whichextends beyond the edges of the shield strip 22 at each side and at theend thereof, so as to extend beyond the edge of the footing 12, andpreferably is tapered downwardly, as illustrated, to prevent the flow ofthe wet concrete floor composition under the shield strip 22 and intothe water-flow passages 25.

As can be seen from the present drawings, the under surfaces of thewells 23 provide a plurality of evenly-spaced small round contact areaswith the footing 12, thereby minimizing any reduction in the area of thewater-flow spaces 25 and permitting free water flow, transversely underthe shield strip 22.

Most preferably the present semi-rigid water drain shield strips 22 aremolded of super high impact styrene polymer in a thickness of about 0,0.04″ and then formed into the desired configuration and cut into thedesired widths. The spaced wells 23 molded down into the surface of theshield strips 22 have an entry diameter of about 1.25 inch, a depth tofloor or seat 18 of about 0.25 inch, and wall contact area 18 a diameterof about 0.40 inch, providing a water flow passage 25 about 0.38 inchwide between the shield strip 22 and the surface of footing 12. Panelsection 13 has a height of about 4.25 inches above the surface of thefooting 12, and the panel 10 preferably is formed in lengths of aboutsix, ten and twelve feet.

The preferred transition area is a curved lower skirt section 14, asillustrated in FIG. 2, since it imparts maximum rigidity to the panel 10and it also encloses and maximizes the horizontal water-flow space 15adjacent the interface of the wall 11 and the footing 12.

The shield strips 22 have a width of about 5 inches so that the taperedouter marginal area 26 extends about an inch beyond the outer edge ofthe strip sides and end to prevent the wet concrete composition from anyback flow under the shield strips 22 which would block the water flowfrom space 25 into the drain tile conduit 20.

The design of the present drain panels 10 enables the wet, concretefloor composition to flow down into the wide entrance areas of thetapered wells 23 to fill them and form uniformly spaced cured concreteposts or stand-offs which provide uniform structural strength betweenthe basement floor 21 and the horizontal footing 12. More importantly,the plurality of uniformly spaced, small diameter contact posts orstand-offs minimize the overall areas of the drain panel 10 whichcontacts the footing 12 to less than 20%, preferably less than 10%, andmaximize the areas of the wall and footing which is free of contact andis open to the free flow of water in spaces 25. For example, the spacedcontact areas of the preferred barrier panel illustrated in the drawingscover only about 8% of the total surface of the footing 12 beneath thepanel sections 13 and 14 to provide a maximized water flow area 25 ofabout 92%. The tapered shape of the wells 16 and 17 facilitates flow ofthe wet concrete composition to fill the wells and also minimizes thespace within the water flow areas 25 which is displaced by the wells 23,to maximize the capacity of the water flow from the water flow conduitarea 15.

Preferably, the present wells 23 are linearly arranged to enable theshield strips 22 to be nested and stacked to minimize packaging andstorage space.

While the narrow shield strips 22 illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 3 of thedrawings represent a preferred embodiment of the present invention, itshould be understood that a variety of other drain conduits can also beused to communicate with the horizontal drain space 15 formed by orenclosed by the lower curved skirt 14 of the panel 10 at thewall/footing interface, through openings or cut-outs 19. For examplelengths of metal pipe or PVC conduit can be inserted into round openings19 formed in skirt 14 to extend out over the edge of the footing 12.Alternatively, as illustrated by FIGS. 4 and 5 a length of the presentdrain panel 10 can be laid on its back, supported on its stand-off ribs16 against the footing 12 extending perpendicular to the wall 11 overthe edge of the footing 12 and communicating through an opening 19 inthe panel skirt 14 to provide a water escape path between the ribs 16after the floor 21 is poured. The embodiments of FIGS. 4 and 5 areadvantageous because the shield strips 22 are cut from the same plasticstrip as used for the vertical drain panel 10. In the embodiments ofFIGS. 4 and 5 a suitable length of the drain panel 10, such as an 8″ to12″ length is cut and laid horizontally, supported on its spacedstand-off ribs 16 against the upper surface of the footing 12 to provideshield strips 22. In FIG. 4 the cut shield strip 22 is merely turnedover or inverted so that its curved skirt 14 is placed over the curvedskirt 14 of the vertical drain panel 10.so that a drain hole 19 in thedrain panel 10 opens beneath the shield strip 22. The stand off ribs 16extend parallel to the surface of the wall 11 and to the drainageconduit portion 15 but they permit the escape of water therefrom,through the drain hole 19 and through the holes or spaces 18 in thestand-off ribs 16, across the horizontal surface of the footing 12 andinto the drain tile 20.

In the embodiment of FIG. 5, the cut length of drain panel 10 used asshield strip 22 is further cut to remove the curved skirt section 14shown by broken lines in FIG. 5, and is inverted and turned or rotated90° so that it is supported on its ribs 16 on the surface of the footingand has a side edge thereof in contact with an area of the curved skirt14 including a drain opening 19. The supporting ribs 16 of the shieldstrip 22 are spaced from each other to provide a water drain path fromthe drainage conduit portion 15 of the vertical drain panel 10, throughan opening 19, under the shield strip 22 and between the ribs 16 overthe edge of the footing 12 and into the drain tile 20. A variety ofother drainage means, able to support the weight of the concrete floorapron, will be apparent to those skilled in the art in the light of thepresent disclosure.

It should be understood that the foregoing description is onlyillustrative of the invention. Various alternatives and modificationscan be devised by those skilled in the art without departing from theinvention. Accordingly, the present invention is intended to embrace allsuch alternatives, modifications and variances which fall within thescope of the appended claims.

1. A drain panel assembly for the control of water leaking through abasement wall and/or entering a basement through the interface of abasement wall and a supporting footing, said assembly comprising aplastic drain panel having an upper panel section which extendsvertically up from a lower skirt section, adjacent the basement wall andclosely-spaced therefrom by a means of spacer-means integral with therear surface of the upper panel section to admit water running down thebasement wall into the lower skirt section, said lower skirt sectionextending outwardly from said upper panel section and downwardly intocontact with the supporting footing section to form a longitudinal waterconduit extending along the length of the footing and open to thewall/footing interface to receive water therefrom, said water conduitbeing provided with a plurality of spaced drain openings for drainingwater therefrom outwardly over the adjacent footing surface into a draintile.
 2. A drain panel assembly according to claim 1 in which said lowerskirt section is provided with a cover means for shielding each of saiddrain openings and the adjacent footing surfaces against being sealedwhen a concrete basement floor is poured thereover.
 3. A drain panelassembly according to claim 2 in which each said cover means comprises aplurality of spaced narrow shield strips of molded plastic which arecontoured to provide a water-flow passage between its underside and thesurface of the footing, which passage communicates between one of thedrain openings and the edge of the footing.
 4. A drain panel assemblyaccording to claim 3 in which each said shield strip is molded with aplurality of spaced depressions which extend down into contact with thesurface of the footing and provide therebetween said water-flow passage,said depressions providing concrete-receiving wells which fill withconcrete and support a basement floor against the footing when the flooris poured thereover.
 5. A drain panel assembly according to claim 2 inwhich each said cover means comprises a shield strip of molded plastichaving stand-off ribs which support the strip on the footing surfacewith the underside of the strip spaced therefrom to provide a flow spacebetween a drain opening and the edge of the footing.